The other shoe dropped

last Friday. During my planning period, I was summoned to the principal's office where a letter was pushed across the desk. "I need to tell you we are not offering you a contract next year. You need to sign at the bottom." Shellshocked, I signed. "Does this mean I need to look for another job?" I asked. "Y-yes," she said, the only sign in an emotionally turbulent week that Our Great Leader had any emotions. I was in there for two minutes. I left with a copy of the notification letter. Two minutes, after giving everything I had to the job for two years. Damn.

I thought I was going to feel the whistling of the axe earlier in the week. All of the instructional aides had been given notice by Wednesday. Women were seen weeping in the hallways. Two teachers before my number was called got the same letter. On Wednesday, I was so stressed out that I started crying at the end of first period and found it hard to stop. When the principal's secretary called me during my planning period, I was certain I was going to be told that I was the next to go. When I arrived, I was told the purpose of the meeting was to go over my evaluation . . . which was done back in November. I cried during the entire meeting which lasted maybe five minutes. A box of Kleenex was pushed across the desk towards me.

On Friday, I wondered why she didn't give me the news on Wednesday. Why make me go another couple of days, believing I would be spared? Why make me take another ride on the rollercoaster again? It was the baffling lack of empathy that hurt me the most. Talking to others who had gone through the cut, they were treated the same way. This is the way things are done to cover the asses of people who shouldn't be doing things like this at all.

As you can probably tell, I've moved through the grieving to anger.

I was told by another teacher who was cut that the District did this eight years ago. The State decided that the District was going overbudget every year and this year they're being made to cut staff and positions to meet the projected budget for next year. Eight years ago everyone came back. There's rumor that that may happen again, but for now you've got single moms and people with families that come June 6 have no job.

One teacher dismissed has 17 years with the school district. How do they do that? Another has 15 years. A friend who had her contract renewed was called into the office two days later to be told "nothing was certain," and she may not have a job in August, after all. A colleague has a daughter who just started teaching at a nearby K-12 school. She was given notice, and she is a single mother with three children.

As "valued employees" (on the ID badge), we've been part of the District's success year after year. My school has been an "A+" school the past seven years, and has been given the highest academic praise possible. So, this is the way the District shows its appreciation? A few days ago, I was angry enough to write a letter to the Superintendent of Schools. I wrote about how disappointed I was at the way so many employees were being treated. I told my story and some of the others I had heard. I don't expect anything to come of it, but at least the act of getting the anger out there was therapeutic.

We were warned about passing Amendment 1 back in January. We were told that local spending cuts would be deep and drastic if the property tax amendment passed. Some people said it had nothing to do with local services, but I didn't vote for it, and I can't help but feel that the two are connected.

Maybe this is what I needed to be dynamited out of my comfort zone. I loved the school, and the people that I worked with. I'm trying to take the positive, long view, believing there's something else, something better, out there. I've applied for an adjunct position at the college and may be able to pick up a summer class. I've also applied in neighboring Walton County. It's a poorer county so the cuts demanded by the State are less drastic.

I'll keep you posted.